No. 3 Seminoles to play in third straight NCAA tournament in search of a title

Apr. 30, 2014

Written by

David Walker

Senior Staff Writer @JDavidWalker

After spending last weekend putting the finishing touches on what will emerge out of this season as the No. 3 ranked team in the country, womenís sand volleyball is ready for the AVCA Collegiate Sand Championships.

The event will be held in Gulf Shores, Alabama with an early morning start on May 2 culminating to the finals kicking off at 3:30 p.m. on May 3. Each school will field five doubles teams ranked in order and play the corresponding pair from an opponent. From there, the winner of the best three out of the fives will take the crown.

FSU is set to play No. 6 Stetson at 10:00 a.m. on Friday and, if the advance, will play No. 2 Pepperdine at 1:00 p.m. for the chance to go to the semis on Saturday. The Pairs Championship will be made up of the six best pairs from the team championship school, the top two from the four semi-finalists, the top two from an earlier Best of the Rest duos tournament, and a play-in for the final two positions. The best of 16-tournament will start early Sunday morning and is planned to run through 2 p.m.

The Seminoles will enter the championships on nearly a month long roll, having won 11 matches and dropping only to sets since losing a heartbreaker to No.1 USC in Los Angeles on March 14. FSUís most lauded duo, No. 1 ranked Aurora Davis and Jace Pardon, are 36-1 on the season and havenít lost a set in over a month. The rest of FSUís legion of high-ranking pairs rounds out to the sisters Stephanie and Kristina Pellitteri at 22-4, Melanie Pavels and Julie Brown at 22-10, and Fatma Yildrim and Sarah Wickstrom at 19-3.

Coverage for the National Championships can be found on CBS Sports Net.